Education deptt draws flak in House

GUWAHATI, February 13: The Education Department faced strong criticism from both the Opposition and ruling party legislators in the State Assembly today and the Education Minister Thaneswar Boro admitted before the House that certain anomalies were going on in the Department. The Education Minister admitted that national appointment of teachers in schools could not be maintained due to several factors like the refusal of the teachers to work in the rural areas, feeling of insecurity in some areas of the State etc. He said that in one particular school in Guwahati city, as many as 21 teachers are working against 75 students. Replying to a question by Mohan Das (AGP), the Education Minister assured the House that steps would be taken to provide pension to the deficit grant college teachers during the tenure of the present Government. He said that the Assam non-Government Deficit College Central Pension and Provident Fund Act, 1997 could not be implemented because of the delay on the part of the college teachers to specify whether they would accept pension at CPF. Referring to a threat by the Assam College Teachers' Association (ACTA) to boycott the Higher Secondary examination scheduled to begin on February 26, Boro hoped that the examination would not be affected and fresh discussions would soon be initiated with the ACTA. While replying to another question by Jyotish Das (AGP), the Education Minister admitted that some proxy teachers were working in some schools in place of regular teachers. Private schools: The Education Minister assured the House that the Government would consider moving an Ordinance to bring the private schools under Government control. Replying to a Zero-Hour question by Girindra Kumar Baruah (AGP), the Education Minister said that the total marks in the High School Leaving Certificate Examination has been reduced from 900 to 600 to bring parity with the CBSE examination system. Referring to the controversy regarding the fate of the 43 students scheduled to appear in the school final examination from the Rajdhani Public School in the city, Boro said that the owner of the school had engaged a middleman to get the CBSE affiliation. The school principal is now in Delhi and it is expected that the students would be able to sit in the school final examination, he added. Earlier raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Baruah said that 43 students of the Rajdhani Public School were facing an uncertain future as they are yet to get their admit cards for the school final examinations. He expressed concern at the mushrooming growth of private English medium schools and demanded that such private schools should be brought under Government control. Cigarette industry: The Industries Minister, Gunin Hazarika today informed the House that 16 cigarette industries, set up in the State, received Central excise exemption amounting to Rs 202.22 crore. Replying to a question by Kalyan Kumar Gogoi (Cong), the Minister said that the State Government earned a revenue of Rs 14.47 from these cigarette industries. Unruly behaviour: Legislator Digen Bora today kept on interfering the proceedings of the House during the question hour and PDF legislator Devakanta Ramchiary walked out of the Assembly complaining that the House was not functioning properly. Later, Sports Minister Moidul Islam Bora took Digen Bora out of the House.